Against Me!'s Trans Frontwoman Burned Her Birth Certificate Onstage in North Carolina

A post shared by Laura Jane Grace (@laurajanegrace) on May 15, 2016 at 9:11pm PDT

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Ringo Starr, Bruce Springsteen, and Bryan Adams are among the long list of superstar musicians who have canceled North Carolina concerts to boycott the state's discriminatory bathroom law. But Against Me!, whose frontwoman Laura Jane Grace came out as a transgender woman in 2012, decided to play its North Carolina show as planned.

"I'm going to create an event around the show as a form of protest to say that despite whatever stupid laws they enact, trans people are not going to be scared. They are not going to go away," Grace said before the show.

And on Sunday, Grace delivered on that promise. Stepping out in front of a sold out crowd at Durham's Motorco Music Hall, Grace immediately lit her birth certificate on fire. "Goodbye gender," she said. "The way you affect change is by empowering the grassroots movement, by empowering the people."

Deciding to play the show as planned, Grace said she applauded people like Springsteen, but didn't think the boycott did much to change the actual state of things.

"Bruce Springsteen pulling out of a concert has a noticeable financial effect," Grace said. "That's lost revenue for the city. No one will notice that much if I cancel the show; it only hurts the fans and the people who have already bought tickets, and the people who could possibly be educated in a situation like that."